A total of 51.6 million people are playing fantasy sports in the United States this year. The lion's share of that amount will be playing fantasy football.
But just because fantasy football stands as the most popular fantasy sports game of them all doesn't mean that there aren't other viable sports available as options as well. Away from the four major North American sports—football, basketball, baseball and hockey—there's a plethora of other sports that have fantasy games and a heavy fantasy following.
In fact, if you name the sport, there's probably a fantasy game available for it. Everything from fantasy soccer to fantasy cricket, tennis, auto racing, bowling, boxing and even wakeboarding are just a search and click away.
"There's fantasy just about everything in varying levels of popularity, but they all make the events more fun to watch and that's fantasy's purpose—to make the games more fun to watch," Rick Wolf, president of FantasyAlarm.com and co-founder of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, tells Tech Times. "Only play fantasy contests for things that you enjoy."
If there's anyone qualified to speak about fantasy sports, it's Wolf. In 1997, Wolf created a blueprint for the consolidation of the fantasy industry under the CBS SportsLine brand. A year later, he created the partnership with Commissioner.com that sparked the building of arguably the best fantasy sports suite on the Internet, leading the way toward relationships with both the MLB and NFL for official fantasy games.
When speaking to Wolf, it's apparent how deep-rooted his knowledge of fantasy sports is, as he's quick to mention that Bill Winkenbach of the Oakland Raiders was the originator of fantasy sports back in 1962. Wolf even owns a picture of John Madden handing out the first trophy of the Raiders Oakland Pigskin Prognosticators League.
So, needless to say, Wolf has seen the explosion of fantasy sports to the point where its gaming has even spilled over to Hollywood.
Matthew Berry is ESPN's senior fantasy analyst, most prominently commenting on fantasy football, but he too has delved past the gridiron, encouraging fantasy gamers to go well beyond the four majors and give other sports a chance ... not to mention, an entire realm outside of sports altogether, via Tinseltown.
"Certainly, daily fantasy sports sites like DraftKings.com have made it easy and fun to do fantasy sports like PGA, NASCAR and MMA, but I encourage people to look further. Whatever sport they enjoy, there is a fantasy version of it," Berry says. "And it's not just sports. I'm one of the founders of FantasyMovieLeague.com, which is a fantasy game for Hollywood Box Office. Lots of fun and we've gotten great traction."
Point taken.
But as large an elephant as fantasy football is on the fantasy landscape, it doesn't keep the smaller sports from launching their own fantasy platforms with confidence.
Take Nic Canobbio, vice president of operations of CompuBox Inc., which takes punching stats for boxing bouts, for instance. In gaining an investment and launching his ThrowdownFantasy boxing website hooked around the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao megabout this past May, the site already counts several thousand players. Canobbio thinks it's aided by the presence of fantasy football, not hurt by it or some of the bigger fantasy sports' games.
"Fantasy football shapes the way of the whole industry of fantasy," Canobbio says. "The big boys like the FanDuels and DraftKings are spending an exorbitant amount on advertising, so the way I see it is it's only a plus. They're spending the money to advertise and more people are being interested to play fantasy. Fantasy football is a small time frame and I I feel like we can reach out to those who are looking for something to do afterwards. Boxing is an all-year sport."
That being said, in doing our due diligence, Tech Times pinpointed eight of the most interesting fantasy sports available outside of the four majors, letting you know how they work and where to play them. If you have never ventured outside of fantasy football, now's your chance.
Tennis
Whether one is a hardcore tennis fan or a more casual follower of the sport, GrandSlamFantasyTennis is a solid choice. Why? Well, because it eliminates the monotony and fatigue associated with picking tennis players and following them from the start of the year until the end. Instead, GSFT concentrates on the tournaments tennis fans love most—Grand Slams!
Making a team of eight players that you think will advance the farthest—whether it's a men's singles team of eight, women's singles team of eight or both—players are tracked through Grand Slam tourneys such as the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. Players that get the farthest produce the most points at the net for owners. Don't get cute and not add Serena Williams to your roster. She will make you pay. Your serve.
Boxing
ThrowdownFantasy.com allows boxing fans to pick five of their favorite fighters heading into upcoming bouts. With a direct link to CompuBox, boxers get gamers points based on everything from total connect percentage of punches—with bonuses given for 200, 300 and 400 punches landed—to knockouts and decision wins. Fighters are also given more points for KOs scored in early rounds. Most games last a week and have multiple winners. Ring the bell!
Cricket
After soccer, cricket is the world's most-popular sport. Dream11.com touts the "World's No. 1 Fantasy Cricket Game of Skill!" According to Wolf, it's also one of the most rapidly rising fantasy games on the Internet, boasting millions of users. The way it works is fantasy owners are given a budget to build a roster of a combination of 11 position players. Points are rewarded on everything from wickets to caught and bowled balls. Be part of the dream ... if you're into cricket.
Bass Fishing
Given the booming popularity of the Bassmaster Classic competition, and bass fishing as a whole, it only makes sense for there to be a fantasy component for its legions of fans. Bassmaster Fantasy is just that, giving users the opportunity to hook in five anglers, let them line up points based on final tournament standings and sink the competition. Hook, line, sinker!
Soccer
There are plenty of fantasy soccer options, but we flocked to the Fantasy Premier League, which boasts upward of 3 million players, as the biggest fantasy soccer game in the world. Given a budget of $100 million euros, players must select a 15-man roster, consisting of five defenders and midfielders apiece, three forwards and two goalkeepers. The pay-to-play league for more seasoned gamers allows a 25-man roster to play each week.
Golf
Golf is as difficult of a sport as there is. Fantasy golf is as simple as gaming gets. At least on Yahoo, that is. Yahoo Sports' Fantasy Golf has owners simply picking a foursome of PGA Tour players for each tournament, and earning points based on the golfers' scores per round. Simple enough.
Auto Racing
Keeping to a salary cap, select five drivers each week of the NASCAR season. The better your rotation of drivers perform weekly, the more points you rack up. But can you cross the checkered flag at the end of the season?
Mixed Martial Arts
Fantasy MMA by Kountermove allows owners to build a team of five fighters with a $25,000 imaginary budget. Fighters then tally points on everything from strikes, takedowns, rounds won and, most important, final victory in the octagon with bonuses for knockouts and submissions.
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